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NPL Site Narrative for A & F Material Reclaiming, Inc.
A&F MATERIALS RECLAIMING, INC.
Greenup, Illinois
Federal Register Notice: September 8, 1983Conditions at listing (July 1982): The A&F Materials Reclaiming, Inc., Site occupies 3.8 acres in Greenup, Illinois. The City of Newton periodically withdraws drinking water from the Embarras River downstream of the site. On-site are four lagoons which hold a mixture of waste oils, sludges, spent caustics, spent acids, water, and other waste products containing PCBs. Similar products containing PCBs are stored in 13 steel tanks on-site, some of which have leaked on several occasions. The site contains about 1.4 million gallons of contaminated water, 16,000 gallons of contaminated oil, and 800,000 gallons of contaminated sludge and soil.
Operations at the site began during 1977 and ended June 1980. They were originally intended to reprocess waste oils and sludges. The storage lagoons were filled by March 1978 and began to overflow, contaminating the environmental pathways leading to the Embarras River 1,300 feet away. PCBs have been found in the lagoons, tanks, ditch, Embarras River, site soils, and ground water beneath the site. Significant concentrations of other organic compounds and heavy metals have also been detected.
In mid-1980, using $240,000 made available under Section 311 of the Clean Water Act, EPA lowered the level of waste in the lagoons, in addition to diking, trenching, and removing wastes.
Status (July 1983): In May and December 1982, and in March 1983, CERCLA emergency funds were used to again lower the level in the lagoons, to reinforce the containment dikes, and to take measures to permanently contain the wastes. The total cost was $190,000.
In June 1983, EPA awarded a $277,727 Cooperative Agreement to Illinois to conduct a remedial investigation/feasibility study of contaminated ground water.
The Department of Justice, on behalf of EPA and the State of Illinois, has brought a Federal civil action seeking injunctive relief against parties potentially responsible for wastes associated with this site.
For more information about the hazardous substances identified in this narrative summary, including general information regarding the effects of exposure to these substances on human health, please see the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) ToxFAQs. ATSDR ToxFAQs can be found on the Internet at http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxfaq.html or by telephone at 1-888-42-ATSDR or 1-888-422-8737.